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But the region's gains were at best muted, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average only managing to rise 5.67 points, or 0.05%.

"There's still a fair degree of caution and equities are struggling to sustain their early gains," said RBS Head of Sales, Justin Gallagher in Sydney. "Wall Street still looks pretty ordinary and the euro remains soggy. All it will take is some worrisome comment out of Europe and the concern will flood back into the market."

Japan's Nikkei Stock Average was up 0.6%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.2%, South Korea's Kospi Composite was off 0.3% at 1,646.38 and New Zealand's NZX-50 was 0.3% higher. DJIA futures were 11 points higher in screen trade.

In Tokyo, technology stocks bounced, with demand buoyed by the euro's bounce off lows against the yen on Monday. Sony was up 0.6%, after falling 4.5% Monday, while Nikon was 1.9% higher and Olympus added 1.3%.

"Some technical indicators suggest the recent drop in the (Japanese) market has gone too far," said Hiroichi Nishi, general manager at Nikko Cordial Securities. He noted that the Nikkei's close on Monday was 6% below its 25-day moving average, and many considered a drop of more than 5% below that average a sign of an oversold market.

Korean stocks were weighed by foreign investors' selling. "There's no sign of an imminent recovery of risk appetite amid a batch of external negatives, and it looks hard to expect foreigners to resume stock buying any time soon," said Choi Jai-sic at Daishin Securities. He noted that the Kospi's valuations were attractive around the mid-1,600s, and said he expected the Kospi to bounce later in the session with resistance at 1,660 points.

Hynix was down 3.6% and LG Display lost 3.9% after rival Samsung Electronics on Monday announced a record investment plan, as part of its plan to take a bigger lead in the market for memory chips and components used to make flat-panel televisions.

In Australia, banks were weighing on the market with ANZ bank down 1.3% while resource stocks were mixed with BHP Billiton up 0.6% and Rio Tinto down 0.3%.

Transurban Group was down 6.2% at A$4.39. A person familiar with the situation told Dow Jones Newswires that the Ontario Teacher's Pension Plan sold its 12.3% stake in the Australian tollroad operator in late trade on Monday, at A$4.44 per share.

This followed Transurban's rejection of a takeover proposal last week, from a consortium that included Ontario Teachers. After Transurban rejected the latest offers, a person close to the bidders had said the consortium members didn't plan to put forward a new takeover proposal and would "seriously consider" selling their securities in the company. A spokeswoman for Transurban wasn't immediately available.

In New Zealand, Fletcher Building was up 1.0% after the government said it would spend NZ$1 billion over five years as a fix to a widespread problem of modern houses that are rotting due to leaks. Blue chip Telecom was 2.4% higher as bargain hunters picked up the stock, which recently has been trading around all-time lows.

"We've had a stable lead in this morning and I don't think it's going anywhere today," Goldman Sachs JB Were Institutional Advisor Peter Sigley said.

In foreign exchange markets, the euro was trading in a tight range against the U.S. dollar and the yen, as investors focused on the EUR8.5 billion redemption of Greek bonds on Wednesday, said Barclays Capital senior strategist Masafumi Yamamoto.

The EU's economic-affairs commissioner, Olli Rehn, said Wednesday that EUR25.5 billion from the euro zone and the International Monetary Fund was going to Greece on Tuesday.

The euro was at $1.2375 against the dollar, from $1.2392 in late New York trade Monday, and at Y114.47 against the yen, from Y114.64. The dollar was at Y92.48 from Y92.49.

Yamamoto added that investor sentiment could pick up if there were no problems with the redemptions, and that could lift the euro.

Spot gold was at $1,225.90 per troy ounce, up $1.80 from late New York trade Monday. Despite the yellow metal's modest decline Monday, analysts said safe-haven demand will continue to support gold. "While we expect volatility to remain high with respect to a strengthening dollar against the euro, safe-haven buying will likely remain the predominant factor in price movements in the coming weeks," said Morgan Stanley in a research note.

June Nymex crude oil futures were up 52 cents at $70.60 per barrel on Globex, after it settled Monday at $70.08 per barrel, its lowest settlement since December.

Japanese government bond futures were lower, dragged by U.S. Treasurys' weakness Monday as well as the Nikkei's rise. The lead June contract was down 0.18 at 139.84 points. The 10-year cash JGB was yet to change hands after ending Monday with a yield of 1.280%.

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